|3rd POV|
Varys looks at the report in front of him in worry. The news of the new Capital City of the Solaris Kingdom in its finishing state has already reached him, and it makes him worry. Usually, it takes years to build a new city and maybe decades to build a new capital city.
However, the Solaris Kingdom broke that trend by building their capital city in a matter of months.
In a matter of four months, they managed to build a palace complete with two massive walls surrounding the palace. Not only that, there are at least three dozen towers around the city. It is even bigger than Winterfell, the current biggest city in the Seven Kingdoms. It is only beaten by Harrenhal when it is at its peak before it gets destroyed by a dragon.
Lucky for them, its size became its weakness as well. With that massive city, a lot of people are required to guard it. If they attack the newly named Celestia City at this moment and conquer it as fast as possible, the Solaris Kingdom shall fall, for they will get the biggest advantages they can get against the Solaris Kingdom.
However, it is if they can win the fight as fast as possible. Sadly, it is easier said than done. Transporting an army from Westeros to Essos will be hard as it requires many ships, and most of their ships sink into the bottom of the ocean when dragons burn the fleet.
That is only one problem. Even with the fleet under their command, they need to reach Essos and need to set sail through the ocean where the Solaris' fleet is patrolling.
And as much as he doesn't want to admit it, Solaris Kingdom has the best fleet in the world, and Westeros cannot fight them on the open sea. Even the Greyjoy pirates have a hard time fighting the Solaris on the open sea.
And if, by some miracle, they manage to reach the Celestia City, they need to siege the city. He is not a master of war, but even he knows that attacking Celestia will take time, and he knows the people of Celestia can hold them without any problem.
Lastly, there is also the Dragons problem. Dragons can obliterate their army, and no shelter can block their fire.
That only leaves them with a defensive battle or building a new war engine that can hurt the dragon. However, it requires money, and at the moment, the Seven Kingdoms are spending money like water.
Some of them spent money to rebuild their navy and army, but most of them spent money on something that they did not need.
The royal family spends money on something like tourneys, silk, and whores, but it is not the main cause. It is the Master of Coins who is stealing from the Royal Family.
Lucky for him, he is not supporting the Stag King. He does not need to help them. In fact, he lets Littlefinger do what he wants to weaken the Seven Kingdoms so that the Black Dragon can take over the Seven Kingdoms without too much problem.
However, he needs to think of a way to take care of the Dragons, which will be a problem for the Black Dragon. No matter how many elephants they have, they cannot fight a single dragon. He needs to do what the Maesters of the past did, where they poison the dragons and their eggs to end the era of dragons.
Do those old people think they can hide their actions forever? He can get this information by sending someone to infiltrate their rank to get him this information.
However, he needs to infiltrate their rank first.
And that is harder than it looks. His little birds have a hard time entering the circle of the Golden Dragon. They can only roam the city; even then, his little birds sometimes disappear without any news. It frustrates him to no end.
"It looks like I need to expand my network and use the old-fashioned money-based network."
With that in mind, he writes a letter to send to a friend in Pentos.
==||==
Eddard looks at the report in front of him with a frown. The headache he is having gets stronger by the second.
"What is it that makes you have that face, dear?"
He looks at his wife and smiles a little. The sight of his wife makes the headache a bit better.
"It is the letter from the House of Umber. They are running out of food and need our help to ask the king to give us a helping aid."
The famine wreaks havoc throughout the North, and it gets worse. The animals and fishes they hunt start to get thin, and they are running out of options to feed their people.
"I see."
Catelyn already sent a letter to her father, and her father helped the North by reducing food prices from the Riverlands. However, that is not enough. The North might be the least populated kingdom in Westeros, but many people still live there. There is also the problem of the Northern part of the Riverlands experiencing famine.
"Will you do that, Ned?"
"Aye. I will directly ask Robert about it and even beg for him to help. We cannot survive this famine without help, and if it costs my pride, I shall do it."
If this is any other day, Catelyn will ask him not to do it, but even the Stark has already felt the effect of the famine. She knows that without lowering their pride, they will not get help from the Royal Family.
However, there is one thing that makes her frustrated.
"Are the first two letters not enough?"
Eddard knows what his wife means and implies, but he still thinks the best of his best friends and says.
"There must be something that they need their money for, Cat. I hear the Royal Fleet got destroyed against the Solaris Kingdom and needs to be rebuilt from the ground."
"But is it more important than his allies? The North is the one helping put him on that throne."
"Please watch your words, Cat. We are in the north, but those kinds of words can cause trouble for our family."
Catelyn winces and nods her head.
"I am sorry for my words, Ned. It's just frustrating."
Eddard hugs his wife tightly and says.
"I know, Cat. I know. I understand your frustration. I will make sure Robert sees the reason and helps us. I don't want my children to grow in this kind of environment."
A small crack appears in the Ever Loyal Wolf of the North's heart. It is a small crack, but a crack nonetheless.